What, Me Worry?

What, Me Worry?

By Winnie Yu

What, me worry? The other night, I awoke as I often do at 3 a.m., my mind racing with questions. Should my girls get a flu shot next week? Will we be able to afford college? Do they eat too much candy?

Let’s face it: We all get a case of OCD and anxiety when we become moms. We want everything to go well for our children, be it the food they eat, the friends they make or the grades they get. So we invest hours into preparing perfect meals. We create extravagant birthday parties. We spend days pondering the virtues of swim lessons versus music lessons. The whole thing can leave us pretty stressed and exhausted.

My neuroticism was even worse early on. Like many type As, I wanted things to be perfect. I also wanted to be both a working mother and a stay-at-home mother, which anyone who has tried it knows is like being the head chef and a waitress at the same time.

Fortunately, time and experience have a way of making us all a little wiser and a lot calmer. I’ve learned that an occasional sleepover isn’t going to make them sick (grumpy the next day maybe, but not ill). Their social lives aren’t ruined because one kid doesn’t like them. And the rare splurge at Halloween isn’t going to rot their teeth.